Your search for bingaman returned 340 results

Bingaman to lead health care working group

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New Mexico’s U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman will replace Hillary Clinton as head of a health-care reform working group on insurance coverage.The move was announced Monday by Sen. Edward Kennedy, who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, of which the working group is part. Clinton, who like Bingaman is a Democrat, is resigning from her New York Senate seat to be President-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of state. “Sen. Bingaman is a longtime advocate of quality and affordable health care for the American people,” Kennedy said in a news release in which he also announced expanded roles on health care reform for other senators. “… We are all committed to working with the Obama Administration and our colleagues in Congress to finally give the American people the health care reforms they urgently need and deserve.” Bingaman pointed out that New Mexico has one of the highest rates in the nation of people without health care. “Furthermore, many New Mexicans that are fortunate enough to have health insurance struggle because the coverage may be very costly or may not provide comprehensive benefits,” Bingaman said in the release. Continue Reading

Bingaman supports auto bailout, at least for now

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U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., currently supports the House-approved $14 billion bailout for the American automobile industry, but with negotiations ongoing, his spokeswoman says nothing is certain.On a vote of 237-170, the House on Wednesday approved the bailout, with U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., voting for it and GOP U.S. Reps. Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce voting against it. But there’s no certainty that the Senate will approve the bailout. With a group of primarily Republicans in opposition and negotiating for concessions from the auto union in exchange for their support, the bill could change. “As we speak, the Senate is expected to have a cloture vote Friday on the House-passed bill. Continue Reading

Bingaman would have voted for bailout bill

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U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman said today that he would have voted for the proposed $700 billion bailout proposal the House rejected on Monday. “I believe there is a need to recapitalize our banking system in order to head off failure by more financial institutions, and that was what this package was intended to do,” Bingaman, D-N.M., said today in an interview with radio reporters. Bingaman said the bill included an important provision requiring “that taxpayers be allowed to share in the profit or the improved economic condition of these companies down the road” since taxpayers would be investing the money up front to help the companies out of financial hardship. He called that and other provisions in the bill presented to the House on Monday “substantial improvements” over the original proposal, and said “it would have been a prudent thing for us to go ahead with it.” Bingaman said it’s important that Congress keep working toward a bill that can pass. The Senate doesn’t plan to vote on a bill until after the House approves it. Continue Reading

Bingaman’s attempt to delay telecom immunity fails

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U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., made an attempt today to convince his colleagues to withhold immunity from telecommunications companies until a report on their activity from the Inspector General is released, but his proposed amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill failed. “We are talking about a program that was not conducted in accordance with the law, and from what we do know, may have violated the constitutional rights of innocent Americans,” Bingaman said in a news release following today’s vote. “I believe the only reasonable thing to do was to keep these suits from being dismissed until at least we have a complete picture of what actions we are shielding from liability.” Bingaman voted against the bill after his and other attempts to amend the bill failed. The vote on his amendment was 42-56, with Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., joining the majority in opposing it. The bill was approved by a vote of 69-28. Continue Reading

Bingaman goes to ANWR

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By Jim Scarantino Watching Democrats mishandling America’s energy crisis feels like 2002: There we were fighting Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. They had attacked us with hijacked planes. They wanted to upgrade from flying coach to detonating nuclear weapons in American cities. Al Qaeda had hoped to provoke us into doing something stupid. Al Qaeda knew it couldn’t defeat us. Continue Reading

Wilson says she can work with Bingaman

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Earlier this week, I profiled the Republican U.S. Senate primary. Because Steve Pearce refused an interview, the article was largely about Heather Wilson. There was one topic discussed during my interview with Wilson that didn’t fit into the article but I wanted to write about. I asked Wilson to talk about things she liked and disliked about both current U.S. senators from New Mexico, Republican Pete Domenici and Democrat Jeff Bingaman. My question was designed to get a sense of her approach to government and also how she would work with Bingaman if the two were New Mexico’s U.S. senators beginning in January 2009. Continue Reading

Domenici and Bingaman are at center of oil debate

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U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici is leading a Republican charge to try to increase domestic oil production and reduce gas prices, but his fellow senator from New Mexico, Democrat Jeff Bingaman, has other ideas about how to deal with rising gas prices. Domenici, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, announced on Thursday that he was introducing legislation to dramatically increase domestic oil production with more offshore drilling and by opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The proposal to drill in Alaska may be enough to kill this proposal in an election year and with a Senate and House controlled by Democrats. Domenici’s proposal isn’t a bipartisan effort: It’s cosponsored by 19 other Republican senators. “For years now, I have been trying to develop more domestic production of oil and gas, and for years, with one exception in the Gulf of Mexico, I have been blocked for political reasons,” Domenici said in a news release. Continue Reading

Superdelegate Bingaman endorses Obama

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U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. and a superdelegate, today endorsed Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary. It’s a big win for Obama in a race that’s close enough that every superdelegate’s support matters. Bingaman said he intends to vote for Obama at the Democratic National Convention in June. “Our nation faces a daunting number of critical challenges: reasserting America’s leadership in the world, meeting our needs for energy independence, addressing global warming, making health care accessible and affordable, positioning our economy to effectively compete globally and extricating ourselves from the war in Iraq, to name a few,” Bingaman said in a release from the Obama campaign. “To make progress, we must rise above the partisanship and the issues that divide us to find common ground. Continue Reading

Bingaman expects Domenici to finish term effectively

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In a speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman praised his colleague Pete Domenici, and in a later interview he said he has seen nothing that might indicate New Mexico’s senior senator isn’t able to continuing serving until his planned retirement at the end of 2008. Domenici is announcing his retirement today because he has frontotemporal lobar degeneration, which can lead to frontotemporal dementia and affect parts of the brain important for organization, decision-making and mood and behavior control. “Senator Domenici called me yesterday afternoon to tell me of his decision,” Bingaman said today during the speech. “My reaction was one of surprise, which gave way to admiration and appreciation for this man’s decision to conclude his distinguished career of public service on his own terms.” Bingaman said when he arrived in the Senate in 1983 that Domenici was “here to welcome me,” and said the senator has “earned a reputation as a fierce and effective champion for New Mexico.” “Today, and during his entire Senate career, Pete has achieved what all of us try to achieve – that is to be effective in getting results in Washington while also staying close to the people who have sent us here to represent them,” Bingaman said. “He has assured me that he expects the remaining fifteen months of his service to be productive. Continue Reading

Bingaman encouraged by wilderness compromise

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U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman says he’s “encouraged” by the compromise between the Las Cruces Homebuilders Association and the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance on a proposal to protect almost 400,000 acres of land in Doña Ana County. Ultimately, only Congress can designate land as wilderness or a national conservation area. The wilderness alliance had been working for months to build additional consensus in its push for federal legislation. Its attempt got a huge boost Tuesday when a slightly reworked plan earned the endorsement of the homebuilders. “If we’re going to get a bill passed this Congress, it’s going to need widespread support in the community. Continue Reading

Bingaman talks about new emissions bill

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Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s office is working on providing video of certain events for news Web sites. The first is from the senator’s announcement earlier this week of a new bill designed to help combat global warming by reducing emissions. If you want to hear Bingaman talking about the bill, watch the video that’s below. It’s about two minutes long. Continue Reading

Bingaman global warming bill has bipartisan support

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U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., introduced today bipartisan legislation his office says is “designed to stop the advancement of global warming while protecting the U.S. economy and American consumers.” The measure, which is cosponsored by Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is an economy-wide mandatory cap-and-trade program that limits the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted, according to a Bingaman news release. The bill would set an annual target on the amount of carbon that can be released into the atmosphere. It would allow firms to buy, sell and trade carbon credits and would provide incentives to promote a gradual transition to new, lower-carbon technologies. “There is a great desire in our country to address the global warming crisis,” said Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Continue Reading

Bingaman to introduce bill to fight global warming

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U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman will unveil a long-awaited proposal on Wednesday aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the United States through the establishment of a cap-and-trade system. Bingaman’s office said today that the state’s Democratic senator won’t release details until the news conference, which will be held in Washington at 10 a.m. MST. He told me in January, during an interview at his Washington office, that the legislation would cap emissions and allow the trading of usage permits, which the senator called “the most significant action we could take to begin dealing with this issue.” Even before it’s formally announced, Bingaman’s plan has drawn the ire of many on the right and left. The Competitive Enterprise Institute criticized a draft circulated in January as legislation that would “increase consumer energy costs, chill investment in new coal-fired plants and usher in a new era of anti-energy litigation.” And the site Blue Climate criticized Bingaman’s proposal in January as one that “falls short” because it doesn’t do enough to combat global warming. Bingaman told me in January that he has supported more drastic measures in the past, but they were easily defeated, and he is trying to put together legislation that will reduce emissions and that actually has a chance of being approved by Congress and signed by President Bush. Continue Reading

Senate approves Bingaman immigration amendment

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Senators approved today an amendment proposed by Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., that would cut in half the number of temporary guest workers allowed under an immigration proposal they are considering. It’s the first major amendment to the bipartisan proposal by the White House and a number of senators, including Pete Domenici, R-N.M., to reform the nation’s immigration system. The amendment was approved today on a vote of 74-24, so the bill now proposes allowing 200,000 temporary guest workers into the United States each year. The original proposal was to allow 400,000, with the number changing based on demand. Approval of Bingaman’s amendment was expected. Continue Reading